Chulbul Pandey finally saves his family from the antagonist and makes a way for the re-union.

What is DABANGG all about ?

DABANGG is all about being fearless,

DABANGG is all about being a REBEL,

DABANGG is all about being determined,

DABANGG is all about being crazy,

DABANGG is all about being the saviour,

DABANGG is all about being the hero,

DABANGG is all about being loved !!!

DABANGG initially is a typical seetimar pot-boiler story of an Indian family. It later became a blockbuster, then an all-time blockbuster, then the highest grossing movie of the year in 2010 and finally a trendsetter - a textbook for the action genre movies.

DABANGG is a lot more than being a movie. It is a saga of how four lives took a dramatic turning point, recharging their careers, making the much-needed difference.

The scenario :

It was 2009. Bollywood audience were accustomed to watch some genres which were strictly intended for the NRIs and the multiplex audience. It was something un-relatable to the lives of a common man in India. Akshay, Aamir and SRK all were working away from the action genre. Though Aamir tried Ghajini, it was more on the scientific side than action. On a whole, the action lovers of Bollywood were starving a big time.

On the other hand, the “last action hero” Salman Khan was looking to re-establish his money-spinning charm at the box-office. It was already the 5th year, since he gave the highest grossing movie in an year (No Entry in 2005) Though WANTED performed well, it surely wasn’t the SALMAN KHAN range ! He was looking for an ultimate game changer ! Meanwhile he signed VEER and was working on it.

During the same time, there were two more people looking to establish their own identities, away from their brothers – ARBAAZ KHAN and ABHINAV KASHYAP. Arbaaz wants to be known by his name, than being known as the brother of Salman Khan. Same is the story for Abhinav – the brother of filmmaker Anurag Kashyap.

Abhinav, who was writer for more than a decade till then wanted to make his directorial debut. Being inspired by his brother he wrote a dark story (Anurag Kashyap types) which is full of raw, crude action with no songs and no entertainment part in it. He then started meeting producers and one by one, the producers were rejecting his script. He then got an appointment to meet Arbaaz, who was looking for scripts to begin his ‘ARBAAZ KHAN Productions’

Arbaaz listened to the whole narration and said to Abhinav “I am doing this movie” Abhinav was prepared to say NO, if Arbaaz wanted to play Chulbul Pandey. But, Arbaaz said “Salman bhai will play Chulbul Pandey !!!” Abhinav was awe-struck !!! “But, Salman bhai wants entertainment and songs in the movie, so make changes accordingly” Abhinav started working on it.

Abhinav was able to impress the KHAN family with his modified script. He wrote 17 different versions of dialogs for the script. The DABANGG script and it dialogs were finalised under the legendary supervision of Salim Khan sir. It was Salim sir who suggested the dialogue “Hum yaha ke Robinhood hain, Robinhood Pandey”

The word DABANGG has different meanings in Hindi – fearless, powerful, gutsy, headstrong, crazy. Who better than SALMAN KHAN to portray all these shades in one mere glance ?

Their hunt for the female lead ended when they met Sonakshi Sinha. The fatty lady was advised to lose weight in less than 3 months. Dimple Kapadia, due to the special affection she has for Salman Khan, accepted to play a crucial role. Everything for DABANGG was ready and it is yet to go onto the floors. Before that Salman Khan tried over 50 different looks changing his moustache and acting workshops were conducted for Sonakshi and others.

On the day-1 of shoot, Salman Khan addressed the entire cast and crew and said to them “Don’t make this shoot a punishment for me, let me enjoy it” For over 130 days, in various Indian and foreign locations, DABANGG was canned. A song shoot, was captured in the Khalid Bin Al Waheed station in Dubai, making Dabangg the first film to be shot there. After one year of hardwork, DABANGG was all set for a big release.

September 10, 2010 – The triple festival day :

For Muslims, it was the ‘Eid-Ul-Fitr’ day. For Hindus, it was the ‘Ganesh Chaturthi’ day. Irrespective of the religions, for SALMANiacs, it was the DABANNG day !!! Chulbul Pandey and his “Hud hud Dabangg” attitude landed straight into the hearts of the audience. They thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it. The action lovers finally had a delicious treat, something which they’ve been craving for years. The dialogs, the lyrics which were in the local slangs, were immensely appreciated. Sonu Sood as Chedi Singh, Aebaaz as Makkhi, Sonakshi as Rajjo, Anupam Kher as Dayal babu were loved. Malaika Arora Khan mesmerised with her item number “Munni badnaam huwi darling tere liye”

I want to quote all my favourite lyrics and dialogs here but if I start doing that, the size of this article would be multiplied by 10 times. BTW, do I really need to remind them to you by quoting here ? Are they not on your minds since 2010 ?

SALMAN KHAN was back with a bang !!! It was everything he was desperately looking for. It was his first 100+ crore movie. Since then, he has become un-stoppable !!! Every movie he did after DABANGG, grossed over 100 crores in India – 10 back to back 100 crore grossing movies, which is still a dream for all the actors in India.

Abhinav Kashyap achieved something which his brother Anurag is yet to achieve. Arbaaz Khan was the happiest man, busy in counting the billions, Chulbul Pandey was minting at the box-office. Sonakshi could’ve not asked for a better launch into the Bollywood.

The movie opened with a bang, collecting over 14.50 crores on the day-1, surpassing the all-time record of ‘3 idiots’ which collected 13 crores on day-1. In the first weekend, it collected 49 crores, overtaking 3 idiots (37 crores) In the first week, it collected 81.64 crores and emerged as the highest first week grosser ever, again overtaking ‘3 idiots’ (76 crores) Every record had one sovereign owner – SALMAN KHAN.

“The film then belongs to Salman Khan who dives into the character with an enthusiasm we haven't seen before” - Rajeev Masand, CNN-IBN

“Salman Khan lives his role and is the life of the film. He is so extraordinary that it seems, he was born to play this role and that the role was written for him and him only” - Komal Nahta, Koimoi

“Salman Khan is the boss, when it comes to playing to the masses. This film reaffirms this truth. The role provides him ample opportunity to prove his star power and he does it with remarkable ease” - Taran Adarsh

Dabangg received accolades in major film award functions in India.

·It won the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment.

· It won six awards at the 56th Filmfare Awards, and a lot more.

DABANGG had an immense effect on the Bollywood. Starting from the screen presence to the entertainment to the budget in which a movie is to be canned. It taught the filmmakers that movies are loved if audience get connected with the content, not with the locations. It also repeated the magic of Salman’s debut flick “Maine Pyar Kiya” Maine Pyar Kiya brought audience back to the theatres whereas DABANGG brought audience back to the single screens.

DABANGG was also remade in two south Indian languages – Osthi in Tamil and Gabbar Singh in Telugu. With Gabbar Singh, Pawan Kalyan got a huge hit after 11 years.

September 10, 2016 marks the 6th anniversary of this cult trendsetting flick. Let’s relive those “Hud hud Dabangg” days by wishing our beloved Salman Khan to keep enthralling us in this same way.

(Inputs drawn from an article published in the Saakshi, Telugu newspaper of March 2011)